The 2006 World Series of Poker was historic for several reasons. The Championship Event drew a record-setting 8,773 players and two men were able to capture two of the coveted WSOP bracelets each in preliminary events. While Jeff Madsen went on to win the Player of the Year award that year, Bill Chen’s story of success was perhaps just as amazing.
Chen, born in 1970, had previously had little to no success on the poker tables. He was more focused on his studies at the University of California-Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1999. This allowed him to step into the fields of quantitative analysis and software design, but the drive for poker success still burned inside of him.
In 2000, Bill created what is called the “Chen Formula,” first popularized in Lou Krieger’s book Hold’Em Excellence. It was a way of quickly assessing the strength of your pre-flop hand through simple arithmetic and assigning the hand into a segment of groupings. This, along with Chen’s continued contact with the poker world through RGP, kept his interest in the game alive and set the course for his future poker success.
In the 2006 World Series, Bill Chen demonstrated his skills at the tables to the poker community. Up until that time, Bill had minimal success in California tournaments. His largest win had come six years earlier at the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. On July 4th in Las Vegas, Chen outlasted a field of 415 opponents in the $3,000 Limit Hold’Em tournament. Eleven days later, he defeated a larger field of 740 in the $2,500 No Limit Six-Handed event to win his second bracelet.
He has continued to perform well on not only the WSOP stage, but also throughout the world. Along with his two bracelets, Bill Chen has been able to cash multiple times at the WSOP. As a member of Team PokerStars Pro, Chen has been a popular player on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), which is sponsored by PokerStars, finishing in the money there as well.
Bill has also become a respected poker author. Along with fellow poker player and mathematician Jerrod Ankenman, he co-authored The Mathematics of Poker. The book is recognized as one of the best usages of quantitative analysis and game theory to be applied to the game of poker. With its myriad formulas, graphs, and numeric analysis, it may look like a college textbook, but is helpful for anyone to be able to get a better grasp of the numbers (and, inherently, the reasons) behind playing poker.
With his math background, Chen is a very formidable player on the felt. He has the ability to view poker situations perfectly and, as a result, will make some plays that sometimes befuddle opponents, but are based solely on the implied math statistics. He also is one of the more jubilant players at the table, smiling and laughing as he takes part in the game.
Chen continues to battle it out on the poker felts, albeit in a part-time form. While he may not be one of the most visible players on the tournament circuit, he is recognized as one of the best mathematical minds in the game today. With his abilities, Bill Chen should be able to add on to his success in the coming years.